Microsoft, Now with 100% More Linux

For a professional-oriented product that appeals mainly to networking administrators, Microsoft uses Linux.

Last week Microsoft announced Azure Cloud Switch, their home-brewed flavor of Linux designed to maximize flexibility and uniformity for network switches. Network switches are hardware used to manage computer and Internet connections in a data center or other networked environment.

While the product itself is appealing only to a small subset of Microsoft customers, this move speaks volumes about Microsoft’s new direction. In times past the tech behemoth bashed Linux, a free and open-source operating system that by its nature competes with Windows. Now, they’re using it.

It’s nice to see a big company like Microsoft using the right tools for the job.